Beatification

Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of five men and four women, including four 20th-century martyrs killed in Brazil, Turkey and Italy.

The child’s miraculous cure from a deadly case of fetal hydrops was attributed to the intercession of Father Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus. It cleared the way for his beatification Oct. 31.

The teen loved St. Francis “very much,” his mother, Antonia Salzano, told Catholic News Service Oct. 9. St. Francis “was a very Eucharistic soul who used to attend Mass twice a day,” and her son sought to imitate that same Eucharistic devotion throughout his brief life.

The tomb of Carlo Acutis was opened in advance of the Italian teen’s Oct. 10 beatification Mass and will remain open for veneration until Oct. 17.

A miracle attributed to the intercession of Father McGivney involved a baby, still in utero, with a life-threatening condition that, under most circumstances, could have led to an abortion.

Father Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus, may be an ideal prospective saint for the current age, said Carl A. Anderson, supreme knight of the international fraternal order.

Vatican announced May 27 that Pope Francis cleared the way for Father Michael McGivney’s beatification.

Brother Miller, who taught at then-Cretin High School in St. Paul from 1966-1971 and again from 1979-1980, was officially recognized by Pope Francis as a martyr last year, clearing the way for beatification.